Railroad rolling stock manufacturing · Alabama
FreightCar America
Cherokee, AL · ~842 workers · 2 years of OSHA Injury Tracking Application data.
- D
- Poor Safety Record
- 4.1
- Avg TCR
- 3.3
- Industry avg
- 1
- Fatality
The verdict
FreightCar America runs at 123% of its industry's injury rate - more dangerous than the typical Railroad rolling stock manufacturing workplace, earning a grade D.
- D
- Poor Safety Record
- 4.1
- avg TCR · per 100 workers
- 3.3
- industry benchmark (BLS)
- 1
- worker fatalities on record
Grade compares FreightCar America's OSHA Total Case Rate of 4.1 to the Railroad rolling stock manufacturing BLS benchmark of 3.3 (123% of benchmark) across 2 years of Form 300A filings (2016–2024). <a href="/methodology">See methodology</a> for reporting-limitation caveats.
Injury rate over time
FreightCar America's yearly Total Case Rate, against the 3.3 industry benchmark.
Where FreightCar America falls in its industry
250 Railroad rolling stock manufac establishmentsSafer than 19% of graded establishments in this industry, whose median TCR is 1.7.
Narrower to Alabama alone (the establishments it most directly competes with for workers and contracts): ranked #14 safest of 18 Railroad rolling stock manufac employers in Alabama.
Trend analysis for FreightCar America
Between 2017 and 2018, FreightCar America's Total Case Rate improved from 5.6 to 2.5 recordable injuries per 100 full-time workers, a 54% decrease across 1 year of OSHA reporting.
The safest year on record was 2018, at a TCR of 2.5, while 2017 saw the highest rate, at 5.6, a spread of 3.0 points between the best and worst reporting years. That's a wide swing relative to the establishment's overall rate, worth checking the year-by-year table below for whether a single severe year is driving the average, rather than a sustained trend.
Summed across those 2 reporting years, FreightCar America recorded 61 total injuries and illnesses and 1 fatality. Readers comparing establishments should weigh the 2-year trend above alongside establishment size, since a larger workforce naturally accumulates more raw incidents even at a lower per-100-worker rate.
Verify This Employer with OSHA
The 61 injuries, 4 illnesses, and 1 fatality shown on this page for FreightCar America are sourced from its own 2 years of mandatory OSHA Form 300A summaries. Cross-check the underlying establishment record directly against the federal source, name, NAICS classification, recordable case totals, and inspection history are all searchable on OSHA's Establishment-Specific Injury and Illness Data system.
Verify on OSHA Establishment SearchSource: U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA Establishment-Specific Injury and Illness Data. NAICS 336510 - Railroad rolling stock manufacturing.
DART Rate, Transparent Calculation (2018)
What is the DART rate formula?
DART (Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred) is computed by OSHA as incidents × 200,000 ÷ hours worked. The 200,000-hour denominator equals roughly 100 full-time workers, which lets establishments of very different sizes be compared directly.
8 DART incidents × 200,000 ÷ 1,490,985 hours worked = 1.07 DART
Methodology: 29 CFR 1904, OSHA Form 300A recordkeeping
Cross-Validating Context, Establishment vs Industry vs State
| Benchmark | TCR | Source |
|---|---|---|
| FreightCar America (this establishment) | 4.07 | OSHA ITA Form 300A, 2-year avg |
| Rolling stock, railroad, rebuilding industry avg | 3.30 | BLS IIF, NAICS 336510 |
| Alabama state avg (all industries) | 4.09 | OSHA ITA, state-level rollup |
Industry benchmarks: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities (IIF) program
Reportable Incident Timeline
Year-by-year reportable incidents (recordable injuries + illnesses + fatalities) submitted by FreightCar America to OSHA's Injury Tracking Application. Each row anchors to OSHA's inspection records search where you can pull the underlying inspection case numbers and citations for that establishment-year.
- 2018: 20 reportable incidents · 19 injuries, 0 illnesses, 1 fatality - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
- 2017: 46 reportable incidents · 42 injuries, 4 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
Source: OSHA Inspection Information System (IMIS) - inspection case-number records
Year-by-Year Safety Data
| Year | TCR | DART | Injuries | Illnesses | Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 19 | 0 | 1 |
| 2017 | 5.6 | 2.9 | 42 | 4 | 0 |
What this grade means for you
Use this grade as a relative read on FreightCar America's reported OSHA injury record versus its Railroad rolling stock manufacturing peers, not a verdict on whether any single site is safe today.
- At 123% of the Railroad rolling stock manufacturing benchmark, FreightCar America reports more injuries than typical peers, ask specifically how the employer is reducing them. Know your rights
- Judge this record against the wider Railroad rolling stock manufacturing sector, where injury rates vary widely, before comparing it in isolation. See the industry
- Grades reflect 2016–2024 filings; check the latest establishment record straight from OSHA, or look up a different employer. Look up another
Safety grades reflect employers' self-reported OSHA Form 300A filings from 2016 to 2024 and can lag current conditions. A grade is not a guarantee that any specific workplace is safe or unsafe today. See our methodology and disclaimer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is FreightCar America's safety grade?
How many injuries has FreightCar America reported?
Similar Employers
Matched by safety record across the industry, by workforce size within Alabama, and by nearby establishments in Cherokee - a different peer set than the category browse links below.
Similar TCR (~4.1)
Similar size (~842 workers)
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure and grade on PlainSafetyScore is computed directly from OSHA's published Injury Tracking Application data and BLS industry benchmarks, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these safety grades, or report a data error. Data current as of 2016-2024 OSHA ITA release.